HOLY FIRE

“For our God is a consuming fire.” (‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:29‬‬)

Seven simple words—and yet they have such profound implications.  Fire is to be respected. It is a powerful force that can create comfort or cause catastrophe.  Thus, it serves as a graphic image of the holiness of God.

Several years ago we had devastating fires in several areas of these western North Carolina mountains I live in. Yet, the amazing thing is that when the fire passes, it leads to the regenerating of the forest.  New green shoots push up through the gray ash and past the blackened embers. God will do that someday as He brings the final judgment on this old world order, and from that establish the eternal one.  Peter speaks of it:

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter‬ ‭3:10-13‬)

The holy fire of God should have a refining effect on us—consuming the dross from our life, so that only the purest gold of faith remains. It ought to compel us with urgency to seek to reach those threatened by the flames of wrath to come.

God appeared in the fire of burning bush, a pillar of fire in the wilderness, in the fire that glowed between the cherubim in the ark of the covenant, and in the fire that fell at Pentecost. In each case that fire conveyed the holy comfort of God’s presence among His people. As fire warms the home in winter, so the heart-warming presence of God abides with us.

But, there is also the fire that fell on Sodom, destroying that wicked city and its perverse populace. Consider, also, the holy fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu.  They put an unholy fire in the censers as they ministered as priests—rebelling against God’s clear direction and profaning His worship.  You can read of it in Leviticus 10. Most horrible of all is the Lake of Fire—the final state of the wicked.

Have you repented of your sins and received Christ by faith?  If you have not, there is no more urgent matter.  If you have, then you know others who have not—reach out to them in love!